Tool Path Design and Cutting Condition Optimization of Thin and Hard-to-Cut Material in Mechatronic Engineering

The thin stainless plate is not only a hard-to-cut material but also easy to lose flatness during high speed machining. Poor tool life and bad flatness of workpiece are the major concern of such type material cutting. The issues of tool life and flatness requirements were divided and conquered. Better cutting path designs were proposed to obtain good cutting tool life. The cutting conditions were optimized using DOE method to avoid deformation of the thin plate cutting and obtain better surface flatness of cut work-piece. The cutting experiments had shown the tool wearing is strongly depends on the tool path design. The proposed tool path design and cutting conditions were able to cut the thin stainless plate with good surface flatness and reasonable tool life.